AprendiZAP is a free learning tool, created by 1Bi Foundation, which uses technology to offer support to students and teachers in public schools.
Since 2019, the NGO has used WhatsApp to offer educational content to primary and secondary school students. This channel was chosen because it is one of the most popular among young people, explains the creator of AprendiZAP, Débora Nunes, product specialist at Fundação 1Bi.
Then, the 1Bi Foundation created AprendiZAP Professores, a platform with more than 2 thousand contents and activities that help teachers create lesson plans in accordance with the BNCC (National Common Curricular Base) and the reality of each class.
The democratization of access has yielded results: the number of people using the tool has already surpassed 1 million. In the last 12 months, the number of students using AprendiZAP increased by 408% — and the number of teachers, by 477%.
This growth is the result of the evolution of the tool thanks to the feedback of whoever uses it. “We facilitate access, improve the solution with assessments, incentives and lesson plans and expand the content of the topics”, he explains Kelly Baptista, executive director of the 1Bi Foundation.
Mathematics is the most popular subject
In 2022, the most sought-after subject on the platform was mathematics, which had 18 thousand hits in the year. According to Kelly, this happens because this subject is one of the most difficult. “We are not encouraged to enjoy this area of knowledge, which leads students to study on their own,” he says.
In this ranking, the subjects that come next are English and Portuguese, with 8,000 and 7,000 students, respectively. “The search for a foreign language has increased a lot because students want to learn out of necessity and curiosity,” says Kelly.
“My daughter is in 9th grade and started using AprendiZAP at the end of last year for her final math exams. It literally worked as a complement to what she had already learned at school. Today she even uses the platform to review subjects that are not so difficult, such as Portuguese”, says Rosiane Ribeiro, mother of Maria Claudia, aged 13, a student in Guarulhos (SP).
What AprendiZAP offers
For students, the tool offers teaching material in the form of videos, texts and exercises with correction via WhatsApp. The content is focused on primary and secondary education and covers areas of knowledge such as Languages and their Technologies, Applied Human and Social Sciences, Mathematics and their Technologies, Natural Sciences and their Technologies and Life Project.
Furthermore, AprendiZAP provides complementary learning trails, such as And either (Uncomplicated), Human Rights and Technology.
Teachers can access AprendiZAP to help with the construction of classes. For each subject, the tool provides a hundred pieces of content, divided by areas, that teachers can download.
“Teachers can also recommend AprendiZAP to students as a way to complement their classes and through it, monitor students’ development”, explains Kelly. “It’s a way of using technology that is within the reach of most people to boost public education, which has lagged in recent years.”
To use AprendiZAP, students must start a conversation with the bot on WhatsApp, at number (11) 97450-6763 — by sending a “hi”, they will receive the materials. Teachers can access the tool via site.
